But like every driver in the Quaker Stake 400 on Sunday (postponed from Saturday due to rain), he faces a big challenge in trying to keep that car fast throughout 267 laps on the 1.5-mile track.

Temperatures will get cooler throughout the night and the additional rubber on the racetrack will impact how the car handles, especially at a place such as Kentucky, where the weathered surface isn’t as banked as many of the other intermediate tracks.

“I know by the time the race starts and halfway into the race, (the car) is going to keep freeing up just like it did in the truck race (Thursday) night,” Earnhardt said. “We had that in our notes from last year that this place really gets freer as you get on deeper into the event. We just hope we make the right calls.

“Everybody in the garage area has got to try to guesstimate and make the right assumption on what they think the track is going to do and how much to push that button. I think we have a good idea. I feel pretty confident.”

Earnhardt has confidence because he knows he has the initial speed he needs. He might not have had the purely fastest car out on the track during qualifying—a cloud cover prior to his run and then during his lap gave him some of the best conditions during the late Friday afternoon session—but he has a strong car.

“I would admit that I think we definitely had the better situation of anyone with that (cloud) scenario,” Earnhardt said. “There were some clouds that came in later in the qualifying session, but not quite the extent of what we had.

“I did think the lap was really good. I got into Turn 1 a little bit overzealous. The car actually was working a little bit better as far as turning through the middle than it had in practice.”

The Hendrick Motorsports driver was not considered a threat for the pole for Sunday's race as his previous starting spots at Kentucky were 29th in 2011 and seventh in 2012 and his best starting spot all season had been sixth at Texas and Pocono.

But Earnhardt won a pole for the first time since September 2012 at Richmond and just the 12th time in his career in 486 starts.

Nine cars broke the track qualifying record of 181.818 mph, set by Jimmie Johnson last year.

Starting beside Earnhardt on the front row will be Carl Edwards (183.306). Johnson and Kyle Busch will make up Row 2.

Johnson, when he first went out, thought he might win the pole as he had been the fastest in the final practice session earlier in the day.

“I felt like I left a little bit on the table,” said Johnson, who still had posted the fastest qualifying lap before teammate Earnhardt went out. “But still, the gap that we had on people and the fact that we had a track record, I got a little optimistic. And not long after that, Junior took us down.”

Edwards, who went out after Earnhardt, was surprised at how strong Earnhardt was.

“We were watching Jimmie and those guys and Jimmie laid down that lap to begin with and I thought it was screaming fast,” Edwards said.

“When I saw Dale’s lap, I thought that was pretty spectacular. … He was not on my radar.”

Earnhardt, Edwards and Johnson—like most drivers—are looking for their first win at Kentucky, which is playing host to just its third Cup race. Busch won the inaugural event in 2011 and then Brad Keselowski won last season.

Earnhardt said they will use much of their notes from last season when planning for the 400-mile race Sunday (noon, TNT).

“(Our setup) is a little bit different than our teammates, but we think that is what our car is asking for and that is what we have had success with in the past,” Earnhardt said. “ So we are leaning on some notes from last year and believe we made the right choice.

“We have a long race to sort it out if we start off with the balance a little bit off and I feel like (crew chief) Steve (Letarte) is a good enough crew chief to make the right adjustments to get us going and get the speed in the car that we need to run well.”